(There are no photos for this review. I refuse to promote this restaurant in any way.

Bee of Rasa Malaysia has written about more congenial experiences at Belacan. To be fair to the restaurant, I include her articles here and here. Food Marathon also had a good experience, which she writes about here.

I invite the owner to weigh in on this article and defend his behavior. I will post his response complete and uncensored.

Edit 08/24/2013: This restaurant has closed, and moved to Tustin, CA. They took over Tropika.)

Running a restaurant is hard. Dwindling profit margins from rising food prices, high staff turnover, increased local and state licensing fees, and increased insurance fees all serve to squeeze independent restaurateurs. A decrease in clientele as a result of the current economy has only made an unforgiving job that much more difficult.

However, when a restaurant is suffering, the last thing it should do is pass that hardship on to its customers. Customers are the lifeblood of any eatery. Discourage them from frequenting your establishment at your own peril.

Belacan Grill in Redondo Beach is arguably the best Malaysian restaurant in LA or Orange County. That's not saying much, given the dearth of Malaysian restaurants in the LA/OC area. With Tropika in Tustin as its main competitor, Belacan is essentially the only game in town for South Bay residents. That virtual monopoly has bred a disturbing arrogance in both the owner and members of his wait staff.

The food quality ranges from decent to good, and the flavors are authentic. Belacan has garnered rave reviews, and no small amount of criticism, on Yelp, and is enjoyed by several of my foodie friends, including Bee of Rasa Malaysia. Bee is my guide for all things Malaysian. I value her taste and judgment, and her favorable evaluation of Belacan's food is spot on.

Where Belacan fails to make the grade is in service and price point. Let's cover price point first. Their lunch portions are tiny, barely enough to feed most people. A lunch order of Beef Rendang ($7.95) gets you about a cup and a half of rice, and a cup of curried beef. Not exactly a hearty meal. The dinner portion of the same dish ($13.95), clocks in at just over two cups, and barely feeds one. In fact, when dining with large groups on several occasions, we found ourselves ordering double portions of dinner items in order to have enough food.

Now the service, if you can call it that, is where Belacan really drops the ball. Their wait staff ranges from brusque to downright rude. I'm used to what's jokingly referred to as "San Gabriel Service", but what Belacan offers fails to meet even that low standard. In one notable and recent instance, they kept my friends, a pair of tiny Asian girls, waiting for two and a half hours for two orders of Hainan Chicken. We kept asking our waitress about their orders. She gave us attitude and told us, "It's coming, it's coming," but never went to check. Two and a half hours later, when everyone else was done with their food and we were ready to leave, she finally informed us that the kitchen had "forgotten" to make the Hainan Chicken, but that we could have it packed to go if we wanted. When asked if the restaurant would take if off of the bill, given the long wait and the fact that the two girls had been reduced to soliciting food from other people's plates, the waitress said she'd have to ask the male owner.

The owner's response? Aggressive, rude, and defensive. "Do you know how hard it is to run a restaurant?" he asked angrily. "Why don’t you pay for an apartment for me?" We pointed out that we'd just bought $400 worth of food, and that given the way we were being treated, it was likely he'd lose any repeat business. His reply was “I don’t care. I don’t want you guys to come back.” After more arguing, during which he kept demanding that we buy him an apartment, he finally agreed to take their food off the bill. However, he glared at our group the entire time, particularly at the two tiny Asian girls who still hadn't eaten lunch.

You know what? I've worked in a kitchen before and I do know how hard it is to run a restaurant. I also know that when you make a mistake, you should apologize and try to make it better for your customers. They also worked hard for the money they spent at your restaurant. You don't start shouting at them and giving two innocent girls the stink eye, especially when they were the victims of your staff's incompetence. Absolutely unacceptable.

Belacan Grill - Their craptacular service is un-freaking-believable. The male owner is an asshole. If you have a choice, do not eat at this restaurant. I sure as hell won't.

(Ratings the result of 5 visits. I wanted to give this restaurant an overall F rating, but the food is tasty and the ambience is pleasant. They've earned a C+ despite their rude service and poor ROI.)Flavor: A-Ambience: AService: FROI: D

25
comments:

mina
said...

Thanks for the info, CP, I've read your blog for quite a while and have tried many of your recommendations and you've always right-on in my book. Service is so crucial in this restaurant industry, and I'm so sorry your party had to go through what you all did. Sorry Belcan Grill, but you just lost a potential visitor here.

Oh, that's awful. I went here back in September and haven't written about it yet b/c although the food was good, I'd hardly call it the best Malaysian food I've ever eaten. I agree about the small portions too. I've also been hesitating b/c I know the restaurant comes highly recommended from Rasa Malaysia. Service was fine during my visit, nothing horrible like what happened to you. But then, it was the female owner when I was there.

I agree with mina. I have read and enjoyed CP for a long time. Love it when you review a place that I frequent. I also agree with your reviews of those places I have eaten. This owner sounds horrible and I can't believe his behavior. I will also avoid this place. Who wants to be treated like that?!

I don't care if the food is the best in the world if the service is bad I won't even consider eating there again.

My favorite restaurant used to be the italian restaraunt on Main st in HB next to the starbucks and I had almost the same incident happen to us with the owner being an asshole. I never ate there again and have expressed my opinion to many who have never eaten there again. You can hear crickets to this day when you walk by that place.

Wow, that is unacceptable in the extreme. I don't mind spending 2.5 hours EATING a nice dinner, but life is too short to wait that long (or even half that long!) for a lunch that never arrives, and then to be yelled at.

But thanks for the warning: now everyone knows. Elmomonster's right, that guy lost his temper with the wrong group.

Wow, what a crazy experience. This restaurant was really in my radar before, but now it is, but in a very negative way. I'll drive anywhere for good food, even with these crazy gas prices, but if I can't get respect and good service, than there are just way too many other options out there for me to consider, rather than going to a place where the customers aren't taken care of. :( Hope your next dining experience is much better.

I'd rather eat at a pleasant dump than something pricey where they have an attitude. Who needs it? Life is too short. Its easy for me to rise (or sink) to any occasion, so it can get uncomfortable if a restaurant employee decides to offload attitude in my direction. Once I give it back, I know it's a bad decision to eat whatever is on the plate they put in front of me.

At least I'm sure you probably kept your cool with the owner. If I was in a situation where the owner was yelling at me and telling me to buy him an apartment, I'd probably throw my plate at his head. :)

yeah it's always unbelievable when you get exceptionally bad service in restaurants. not just bad, but boycott-worthy service. sounds like my experience at La Casita here in Taipei... but the funny thing is that after I wrote about it, I got so many comments defending the owner (who is moody and can be either nice or a jerk), but there was no denying my experience that day.

Belacan has always been nearly empty when I've stopped there for lunch. I imagine I'm not the only customer to be turned off by high prices and poor service.

Elmo,

I think you should try it for Bee's sake. You may end up having a glowing experience. I've usually gone for lunch. Maybe they're short-staffed during the day or something. I'd be very interested in reading your assessment of the place for dinner.

Kirk,

No, not really. =b

Joy,

I can honestly say I've never had a pleasurable dining experience there due to poor service.

Susan,

When people are trying to do more with less, it can be really stressful. What Belacan needs to understand is that everyone is trying to do more with less, including their customers.

Pleasure Palate,

Thanks! I think I've been very fortunate with service at restaurants. This is the first time I've ever had such a negative experience.

Anon3,

I agree. That's actually why I prefer mom & pop eateries. The food tends to be cheap, tasty, and plentiful. Even if it's not, at worst you're only out $10.

Julian,

Thanks buddy. =)

Bill,

Well, let's be honest. You and I put up with bad service all the time in Little Saigon. The difference is a lunch there costs $5-$6 and the food comes out fast. =D

Griffin,

I actually wasn't the one talking with him. I was off to the side while two of my friends spoke with him. These are two pretty stable guys, but they were both yelling back at him by the end of the "discussion".

Joanh,

Ah. That cleared it up. =)

You know, I think it's different if you have a personal relationship with an owner. Then you're more willing to excuse some of the restaurant's shortcomings. However, some things are inexcusable...

CP,He is lucky that I was not with you. I would shove a plate up his a_ _. What a terrible experience. My wife told me about this place a few days ago. I will definitely never eat here just in case my temper got the best of me.

Yup. Me too. The waiters in Little Saigon may be impatient to get my order and never refill my water, but I end up stuffed with good food at ridiculously low prices. I'll overlook a lot for a good bargain. Not to mention the fact that they've never kept me waiting more than 15 minutes for my food.